Resident Evil 2 Remake next gen update has broken speedrunning

Last Updated on: 26th June 2022, 07:53 pm

It was fantastic news to hear when Capcom announced that they hadn’t abandoned some previous Resident Evil games and would be bringing them into the next generation, with Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake, and Resident Evil 7 receiving free updates to enhance the games for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

The games have all been enhanced with new updates, bringing 4K visuals to the iconic horror games, as well as increasing the frame rate on consoles to 120fps and adding ray tracing on all platforms.

But, this new update has broken speedrunning strategies, especially in Resident Evil 2 Remake, which has got many in the community worried.

Resident Evil 2 Remake speedrunning is broken

Since Resident Evil 2 Remake was first released in 2019, speedrunners have been hard at work spending thousands of hours perfecting their playthroughs and optimizing every aspect of the game.

As it stands at the time of writing this, Claire Standard on PC at 120fps has been completed in just 48 minutes and 25 seconds by the world record holder TheFuretto. The average player usually takes approximately 3-5 hours to complete their first playthrough, which shows how well optimized the game has become.

In a bizarre turn of events, the recent Resident Evil 2 Remake next gen update has seemingly broken many of the strategies used in speedrunning and altered aspects of the gameplay.

It was believed that the update was solely to enhance the visuals and nothing suggests otherwise, so it is unlikely that Capcom has purposed recoded the game and likely a byproduct of the work the developers did to enhance the game.

Certain enemies such as the Cerberus (Dogs) have seemingly become more aggressive and will attack more frequently and ferociously, with them being able to ruin an entire playthrough by having multiple attacks in quick succession with no ability to defend. Some have explained this as the enemies having more active frames compared to the previous version of the game, although I must admit I have no idea what that actually means but it sounds complex.

Mr. X and William Birkin have been altered too, with Mr. X’s walking and following pattern now being altered unintentionally.

Previously, speedrunners have been able to accurately have Mr. X appear at the same location on every speedrun during the section of the game that he is following you.

Now, his movements seem more sporadic and harder to predict, although it likely won’t take too long until this is figured out.

William Birkin’s G2 fight, the one that you need to knock him off the platform with the shipping container, now plays differently.

With the previous patch, Birkin would be right behind the player when they drop down onto the platform. But now, Birkin seems to move much slower which affects the current meta for the fight. Players are already working out new strategies so it is likely that this shouldn’t pose an issue for too long.

There are likely other changes that will be found but with the new update being so new it will take time.

It is also worth noting that, although some of these changes could make speed runs slower, it is possible that some new strategies will be found that can only be achieved with this update that could pave the way for a new world record.

Some speedrunners are already looking at downgrading their game to revert it to the older patch, and it is unclear whether the two updates will be split in the rankings as an extension, or whether all future speed runs will be bundled with the existing times.

READ MORE: Resident Evil: Will Billy Coen ever return?

It is possible that Resident Evil 3 Remake and Resident Evil 7 are facing similar issues but the community is more active on Resident Evil 2 Remake so these issues are being detected quicker.